A Tale of the Horribly Misunderstood
by thewarblersuptowngirl
Summary: Blaine Anderson, Tina Cohen-Chang, Quinn Fabray, and Santana Lopez are all friends and McKinley High's social outcasts. This is their senior year but it isn't going to be easy as they deal with growing up, growing apart, finding themselves, and chasing their dreams. Romances blossom and new friendships form as the year progresses but what will these changes mean for these four?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Ok, so this is my first time ever posting a fanfic so I hope you like it! I know absolutely nothing about how school works in America or how the school year works so if there are any inaccuracies, I apologize. This idea was swimming around in my head for a while and so I decided to publish it :) Also this is will be a Klaine fic at some point but for now the focus is on these four.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.**

**Chapter One:**

Senior year and it's a hot, sunny, early-September day in Ohio as Blaine Anderson, Tina Cohen-Chang, Santana Lopez, and Quinn Fabray congregate beneath the bleachers at the football field. It's currently lunch time and as usual the four friends keep themselves separate from the rest of the McKinley High student population.

Blaine and Tina are standing up, resting against the beams supporting the bleachers while Quinn and Santana reside on the couch that they seem to have managed to commandeer from the Skanks, another group of the school's misfits.

"It is disgustingly hot today" Santana moans, taking a drag of the cigarette she's just lit and passing her lighter over to Quinn.

Quinn accepts it, lighting her cigarette with ease. She places Santana's lighter between them on the couch and then stretches out her legs, leaning back into the cushions of the couch.

"That cigarette's probably not helping" Tina says, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at Santana.

Tina and Santana have always had a weird relationship. Honestly, neither knows how to define it. They're not really friends but they're more than just acquaintances. Whatever that stage of a relationship is, that's what they are.

"Oh it's helping" Santana drawls, taking a long drag of her cigarette and then blowing the smoke in Tina's direction. Tina frowns at her.

Quinn lets out a huff of laughter, Tina's reaction amusing her, before she turns her attention to Blaine who has remained practically silent since they all met up here. He's smiling at Tina but it's more subdued than usual. Quinn knows something's wrong and she's not about to let it go unnoticed. She and Blaine are close, both bonding over similar issues with their fathers, she wants to help.

"Blaine is everything okay?" she asks, sitting up off the couch cushions.

Santana and Tina both look over to Blaine in unison and Blaine's head turns to look at Quinn, confusion evident on his face.

"Everything's fine" he says and Quinn can hear the falseness in his tone.

Santana appears to hear it as well because she now sits forward from the couch cushions like Quinn and she's all but forgotten about her cigarette hanging from her fingers.

"Blaine, what's going on?" Santana asks, concern lacing her tone.

Quinn takes a drag on her cigarette when Blaine doesn't answer straight away. On the exhale she spares a quick glance to Tina who has moved slightly closer to Blaine, away from the beam she's been leaning against.

"It's nothing" Blaine says and he smiles at them as though it'll make them stop worrying.

"No, fuck this" Santana mutters and Quinn hears Tina's sharp exhale as Santana stands up and moves to place a hand on a surprised Blaine's shoulder, "Talk to us B".

Blaine now looks a little scared, eyes flicking between the three girls. Santana gives up on her cigarette, dropping it to the ground and stomping it out with the heel of her shoe as Tina moves to stand next to her. Quinn stays where she is on the couch, taking a drag of her cigarette. She doesn't want to crowd Blaine too much and freak him out. She runs her free hand through her sleek blonde hair, her fingers catching on a knot near the back of her head. As she untangles it Blaine begins to talk, eyes downcast.

"It's just Karofsky and Azimio" Blaine sighs and Quinn sees Santana's posture stiffen.

"What did they do?" Tina asks, eyes filled with worry.

"Nothing" Blaine replies, trying to smile reassuringly at her but Tina doesn't look convinced.

"Bullshit"

All eyes move to look at Santana who looks incredibly pissed off. Her mouth is set in a thin line, her eyes narrowed as she watches Blaine.

"I can handle it" Blaine says, more to Santana than anyone else, his tone conveying that he just wants her to drop the subject.

"No, see, I don't think you can" Santana spits back, raising her voice. Quinn can tell it's about to get ugly so she intervenes before Santana has a chance to say anything else.

"San, stop. If Blaine doesn't want to tell us then he doesn't have to".

Santana turns to look at Quinn now, her expression stony. Quinn raises an eyebrow at her, daring her to not do as she's just said. Instead Santana plasters on a fake smile, turning back to Blaine.

"Of course he doesn't Q" she says, voice full of fake cheer. She squeezes Blaine's shoulder lightly before moving back to sit on the couch next to Quinn.

Blaine throws a grateful smile in Quinn's direction which she returns. Honestly she feels bad because she started this whole conversation. She doesn't dwell on it for long though. She's glad that it got Blaine to open up, even just a little bit.

Tina stays near Blaine, lips curled into her mouth as if she's restraining herself from saying anything. She reaches her hand out tentatively towards him, the fingers of her other hand curling in the black lace of her skirt self consciously. Blaine slips his hand into hers; squeezing it gently and Quinn can see Tina visibly relax.

Santana snatches Quinn's cigarette from her though Quinn doesn't understand why seeing as it's practically out. She doesn't say anything though; Santana's in a pissy mood and Quinn doesn't want to do anything to make it worse.

The tense silence grows between the four of them and no one seems in the mood to break it. Blaine keeps throwing glances in Santana's direction but she's resolutely looking anywhere but at him. Both Quinn and Tina keep looking between them, silently urging one of them to say something. Neither one does.

Santana takes one last drag of Quinn's cigarette before putting it out using the arm of the couch. Flicking the cigarette stub onto the ground, Santana crosses one leg over the other and smoothes down the fabric of her dark blue jeans with her hand.

"Okay look" all eyes turn to look at Blaine now and he takes a deep breath before continuing, "Karofsky and Azimio, they've just been shoving me around. Nothing more than what they usually do".

"Obviously, and that's why you look shaken right now" Santana mutters.

Quinn leans across the couch and shoves Santana's shoulder forcefully to get her to be quiet. Santana glares at her but keeps her mouth shut. Blaine doesn't say anything in reply but his grip on Tina's hand tightens slightly. When it becomes clear that no one else is going to say anything, Quinn takes this opportunity to speak up.

"Blaine, you don't have to tell us everything right now but just remember that you can talk to us".

"I know Quinn" Blaine replies, nodding his head and smiling a small genuine smile.

Santana looks as if she wants to say something but before she gets the chance, they hear the bell ringing in the distance. Santana leans back into the couch cushions with a sigh and Quinn follows suit. She and Santana have a free period now but Blaine and Tina have Chemistry.

"We'd better get to class" Blaine says, letting go of Tina's hand.

Tina just nods in response, waving goodbye to Quinn and Santana. Quinn returns the wave and Santana inclines her head in a way that lets them know she's acknowledged it. Blaine sighs before he and Tina begin to make their way back across the football field.

Santana reaches into the pocket of her white leather jacket that's draped over the back of the couch and pulls out a cigarette from her pack. She lights it using her lighter that's still sitting between her and Quinn and lets her eyes drift closed as she takes the first drag.

"You know, you smoke too many of those you'll get lung cancer" Quinn murmurs.

"Don't fucking lecture me Fabray" Santana hisses, eyes snapping open to glare at Quinn.

"Honestly, you should be more careful" Quinn scolds, "You're daddy is a doctor after all".

With that Quinn plucks the cigarette from Santana's grasp and takes a long drag from it, letting out the exhale slowly. Santana sits there, staring at Quinn in a state of surprise before her expression grows dark.

"Fuck what you'd know about fathers" she says, bite in her tone.

Quinn knows that Santana's angry and that the only reason she would say that is because she knows it'll hurt Quinn so she schools her features into a look of indifference. It does hurt though and Quinn hates that fact.

Santana snatches the cigarette back off Quinn, taking a short drag of it.

"I get that you're angry Santana but you're taking it out on the wrong people" Quinn sighs, running a hand over her face before leaning her elbow on her arm of the couch.

Santana doesn't reply, just takes another drag of the cigarette. Quinn rolls her eyes. It is so hard to deal with Santana when she gets like this. She knows it's only because Santana cares so much about Blaine that she's this upset but Quinn's getting a headache and she's slipping into a bad mood herself.

"What do you want me to do?" Santana huffs, passing the cigarette back to Quinn and beginning to pick at the lint on her arm of the couch.

"Just go easy on Blaine" Quinn pleads. She doesn't think it's too much to ask.

Santana pauses, eyes flicking over to Quinn. Quinn passes the cigarette back to her despite not having taken a drag of it. Santana takes it from her looking at it as though it holds all the answers. Eventually she nods, looking back to Quinn.

"I can do that".

* * *

Blaine pulls on his black and white striped sweater before running his hands over the knees of his jeans, taking a deep breath.

He sits on the edge of Kurt Hummel's bed, eyes taking in the room like they usually do as Blaine tries to figure out more about Kurt. He doesn't know much. Finn Hudson, star quarterback and glee club lead, is his stepbrother after Finn's mum married Kurt's dad, though that's kind of common knowledge. What Blaine can see from his half-open closet and the clothes he wears at school, Kurt has a good fashion sense and the Vogue magazines that Blaine's seen stashed under Kurt's bed when he's been searching for articles of his clothing tell him that fashion is something that Kurt enjoys. Everything's always so well organised and neatly arranged that Blaine sometimes wonders if he were to set even one thing out of order would Kurt's world tilt on its axis? He guesses he'll never know.

Kurt exits the bathroom, where he's been washing up, coming to sit next to Blaine on the bed. Neither says anything and Blaine thinks he should just grab his bag from beside the door where he threw it earlier and leave. They've had this arrangement going for a while now but Blaine hasn't managed to find a graceful way to leave yet.

"That was...good" Kurt mumbles awkwardly, drumming his fingers on his knees where the black fabric of his pants are stretched tight and Blaine sometimes just has to wonder whether he paints his pants on.

"Yeah, great" Blaine replies, fingers curling in the sleeves of his sweater.

Kurt just gives a little nod as an awkward silence falls between them and Blaine really wants to leave now. Kurt lets out a little cough that seems to Blaine as a way to restart the conversation so he returns his attention to Kurt.

"You know that this still doesn't change anything, right?" Kurt asks and Blaine can almost hear a pleading note in his tone.

"Yeah, Kurt, I know" Blaine sighs, "Casual sex and then pretend that the other doesn't exist until the next time we do this."

Blaine hears Kurt sigh beside him but doesn't pay him much mind as he moves to grab his bag. As he slings it over his shoulder, Kurt speaks up from behind him.

"Finn has a football game on Friday night and my dad and Carole will be there. Did you want to come over?"

Blaine turns to look at Kurt, mentally trying to remember if he made plans to hang out with the girls on Friday. He doesn't think so so he gives Kurt a nod.

"Ok, I'll see you then" Kurt says, standing up and stretching his arms over his head, his shirt sleeves clinging to the muscles on his arms. Blaine turns back around and walks out of Kurt's room.

As he reaches the front door he feels his phone vibrate in the pocket of his jeans and pulls it out to see a message from Tina.

**From Tina: **wanna come ovr tonite?

Blaine deliberates as he makes his way out the front door and to his car before he replies.

**To Tina: **Sure thing

Tina's company always feels like a breath of fresh air for Blaine and after today he kind of feels like he needs it.

* * *

Santana sinks into the seat in front of her mirror and just stares at her reflection. Her makeup has been wiped off and now she can truly see how tired she is. Her energy is drained. She feels like a kite desperately trying to escape and fly free only to be tethered and held back. In this case she feels tethered to Lima and she honestly cannot see a way out. She runs a shaky hand through her freshly washed hair and her breath comes in in a shuddering gasp.

She sees Quinn and Blaine and even Tina doing great things with their lives and leaving Lima far behind without a look back. Only trouble is that she feels like they'll be leaving her behind too and she's honestly afraid. Sometimes it all feels like too much.

* * *

The scrape of knives and forks against plates is the only noise to be heard in the Fabray family's dining room and its beginning to drive Quinn crazy. All she wants is for at least one of her parents to say something. Ever since last year when she got pregnant and had a baby with Noah Puckerman, her parents have barely said anything to her. Quinn isn't sure how much longer she can take it.

"Mom?"

It comes out in a quiet whisper but Quinn knows her mother heard her. Her head turns slightly towards Quinn as if she's about to answer her. The slight flicker of hope that begins to grow in Quinn's chest is stamped out when her mother turns her head away again, cutting up her steak a little more.

Quinn turns towards her father, opens her mouth to try and talk with him but he merely wipes the corners of his mouth with his napkin and leaves the table with his plate before she can say anything. A sick feeling settles in the pit of her stomach as she realizes that her father's plate still had a substantial amount of food on it.

Feeling a desperate need to escape, she asks her mother if she can be excused from the table. Her mother waves a disinterested hand, the only acknowledgment she's made towards her daughter this whole meal. Quinn pushes out her chair and walks hurriedly away from the table, not caring that she's left her plate there, and makes her way to her room.

Shutting the door behind her, she climbs onto her bed and crawls over to her bedside table. There a picture of Quinn and her sister Frannie when they were younger resides. Quinn picks it up; cradling it like it's the most precious thing in the world. Its then that she lets herself cry, tears splashing against the glass of the picture frame.

"I miss you" she whispers, clutching the frame to her chest and closing her eyes tight.

* * *

"I love your parents"

Tina lets out an amused huff, lifting her head from where it's been resting on Blaine's stomach and raising an eyebrow at him.

"Why?" she asks, tone disbelieving.

Blaine shrugs and Tina resumes her position of resting her head on Blaine.

"I guess after having my parents other people's parents always seem so much better" Blaine replies in a slightly wistful tone and Tina lets out a little noise of sympathy.

Both Tina and Blaine are quiet for a while, just enjoying each other's company and Tina just lets herself relax. She feels Blaine's fingers card through her hair, a soothing feeling travelling through her and she stretches out like a cat, letting out a small noise of content. She feels Blaine laugh and smiles despite herself.

"Shut up" she murmurs, closing her eyes as Blaine continues to run his fingers through her hair.

"Never" Blaine replies so Tina smacks her hand into the near vicinity of his chest. She doesn't bother to open her eyes to look.

They're quiet again after that for a while, neither feeling the pressing need to fill the silence with talking. Tina's almost practically asleep when Blaine says out of nowhere,

"I'm seeing Kurt on Friday".

Tina's eyes snap open and she leans up on her elbows away from Blaine's chest. She doesn't say anything; she just stares at him and tries to figure out why he felt the need to tell her that. She guesses it's because, as far as she knows, she's the only person outside of Kurt and Blaine who knows about their arrangement so she's the only one he can talk to about it.

"What?" Blaine asks when Tina doesn't say anything, looking slightly apprehensive.

"Nothing" Tina replies, shrugging her shoulders. She lets herself slump a little but she doesn't go back to leaning on Blaine.

Blaine narrows his eyes at her as if he can tell that there's something she's not saying and he wouldn't be wrong. There is something Tina's not saying, mostly because she doesn't want to sound like a broken record and also because she knows that Blaine won't want to hear what she has to say.

It's no secret to Blaine what Tina's feelings on Kurt and his arrangement with Blaine are. She doesn't like the way that Kurt treats Blaine - as if he's disposable and the whole arrangement feels wrong to her. Blaine deserves the best and that is not what he has right now.

Tina lets out a long suffering sigh, realizing that Blaine's not going to let this go. She readjusts her position so that she's sitting up cross-legged facing Blaine. Fidgeting with her fingers and the duvet, Tina takes a deep breath.

"You already know what I'm going to say" she mutters, eyes fixed on what her fingers are doing.

She hears Blaine let out a huff and looks up to catch him rolling his eyes.

"Tina, how many times do I have to tell you – "

"It doesn't mean anything to either of you, I know" Tina cuts Blaine off, "but that doesn't change the fact that you should have what you have with Kurt with someone it does mean something to."

She reaches over to take Blaine's hand, squeezing it gently. She catches his eyes and gives him a warm look.

"You deserve the best, Blaine" she murmurs, smiling at him.

Blaine squeezes her hand but doesn't say anything. He looks like he's in deep thought so Tina just lets him think. Her own mind begins to wander as they sit there holding hands and she thinks back over the past couple of years. She and Blaine had met when they were both freshmen. Tina had managed to trip up the front steps at McKinley on her first day and spill practically the entire contents of her bag out onto the ground. Not a great impression to make before she's even got through the front door.

There had been one saving grace, however, and that had been Blaine. He'd stopped and helped Tina gather up all her things and put them back into her bag. He'd then walked her to her locker. They'd had lunch together, sat together in their shared classes, and essentially spent the day getting to know each other and helping each other adjust to life at McKinley. They've been best friends ever since.

Blaine squeezing her hand again brings her back to the present and she sees that he's smiling at her. Whatever he was thinking about before he seems to have stopped thinking about now.

"Wanna watch Buffy?" Tina asks, feeling that the time for talking is over and they just need to relax.

Blaine lets out a small laugh but Tina can see that he's glad she changed the subject.

"Sure" he answers and Tina lets go of his hand to go hunt down her DVDs.

* * *

It's late when Blaine gets home and he can already tell that his parents are not going to be happy with him.

Sure enough, as soon as he bypasses the kitchen, his mother calls out to him in a sharp tone. Blaine pauses before backtracking and making his way into the kitchen.

"Hey mom" he says casually as though he hadn't just strolled through the door.

His mother ,for her part, just narrows her eyes at him before giving a little shake of her head.

"Where have you been?" his father asks and Blaine didn't notice him there at the kitchen table.

Blaine looks between his parents, his mother at the kitchen counter and his father sitting at the kitchen table, trying to gauge just how angry they are before he answers.

"I was at Tina's" he informs them, not missing the way that his mother seems to relax a little.

"Oh, how is Tina?" his mother asks, tone sweeter than it was earlier and Blaine narrows his eyes.

"She's fine" he answers.

In all fairness Blaine probably should have told them where he was going when he'd left after dinner that evening but he hadn't thought they'd care all that much. Then again, something about the way his mother had reacted when he'd told them he'd been with a girl annoyed him so he didn't feel so bad.

"I've always liked that girl" his mother comments in a slightly wistful tone and Blaine suppresses the urge to roll his eyes because he can tell where this is going.

"Yes, she's got a good head on her shoulders" his father chimes in, "Pretty too".

Blaine feels a little pit in his stomach begin to grow hearing his parents talk about Tina as if they wish that Blaine would marry her and make her their daughter-in-law. In fact they probably do.

"You should invite her around for dinner sometime" his mother tells him, a small hopeful smile on her face.

Blaine looks between his mother and his father before letting out a sigh.

"Sure"

He turns to leave the kitchen, wanting to get away from this conversation as fast as possible when his father speaks up.

"Oh and Blaine?"

Blaine turns back around to face his father, eyebrow raised.

"Next time you go out, you're to let your mother and I know where you're going"

Blaine just nods and then leaves the kitchen, all but vaulting up the stairs to get to his room. Closing the door behind him, he lets out a deep sigh, eyes slipping closed. This day has felt incredibly long and all Blaine wants to do is climb into bed, crawl under the covers, and go to sleep.

Unfortunately he has Chemistry homework to finish so he begrudgingly goes over to his desk, picks up a pen, and picks up where he'd left off.

* * *

Santana stands in front of her locker the next morning, her eyes scanning her timetable taped to the inside of the door.

"Spanish. Great" she sighs, rolling her eyes at the thought of having to spend the first period of her Wednesday listening to Mr Schuester try to speak Spanish.

She's just got out her Spanish book and is in the process of closing her locker when she feels the presence of someone standing behind her. Shutting her locker fully, she turns quickly to see Josh Coleman, sophomore rugby captain, standing there.

He crowds into her space with a lewd smirk on his face and Santana narrows her eyes slightly, taking half a step back.

"Thanks for last night" he murmurs, leaning close to Santana's face so that she can feel his hot breath fan out over her face.

Santana doesn't say anything in reply, just stares at him as he pulls away, shooting her a wink as he turns and walks off down the hallway.

She feels sick, something unpleasant settling in her stomach. She barely registers it when the bell rings and an arm loops through one of hers.

"What was all that?" Quinn's voice pulls her back into the present as she turns her head to see Quinn looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing" Santana says, eyes drifting back towards the slowly emptying hallway.

Great; Quinn saw. Santana knows that they'll have to talk about it later but for now neither her nor Quinn say anything more about it.

"Come on, we don't want to be late" Quinn says, gently tugging Santana towards their Spanish class.

Santana draws in a deep breath, before nodding and letting Quinn lead the way.

* * *

**Feedback is greatly appreciated :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Woo, an update! I should have been studying for my Spanish exam and right now I should be sleeping but I really wanted to update so here it is: Chapter Two. Thank you so much to those of you who have followed and favourited this story! It means the world to me and keeps me motivated to write this story :) **

**Warning for use of homophobic slurs in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.**

**Chapter Two:**

It's Friday before he knows it and Blaine feels thankful that the week is ending. He's not particularly thrilled at the prospect of seeing Kurt that night, not really in the mood to deal with him and keep up the indifferent facade. Honestly he's just so tired and graduation seems so far away and he's just so ready to get out of Lima. The day when he no longer has to deal with bullies who lurk around the halls of McKinley will be the greatest day of Blaine's life.

There's also the strained atmosphere between Santana and him after lunch on Wednesday when he'd told them about the bullying. He hadn't really lied when he'd told them that Karofsky and Azimio weren't doing anything more than they usually did, it just seems that they've being more intense with the locker shoves and taunts. Maybe it's because this is their last year to bully him and they want to take advantage of it. Blaine doesn't know. He just wants things to be alright with Santana.

A hard shove sends him stumbling back into his locker, the vents on the door digging painfully into his back through his white polo shirt. He winces in pain, focusing his attention on the two jocks standing in front of him. Of course, it was Karofsky and Azimio who shoved him. Blaine's hardly surprised. He attempts to move away from his locker, not in the mood to deal with this, when Azimio shoves him back against it. Blaine lets out a hiss of pain and the vents dig even further into his back and he wouldn't be surprised if he ended up bleeding a little.

"Where do you think you're going, faggot?" Azimio taunts, laughing a little, as the bell for first period rings overhead.

"Yeah, did we say we were done?" Karofsky sneers, bumping his fist against the one that Azimio holds out towards him.

Blaine takes in a shaky breath, more from the pain although there is a little bit of fear in the mix too. Azimio and Karofsky take a step towards Blaine tenses, feeling more fearful now because of course they would decide to beat Blaine up in a practically empty hallway. Those whose attention has been on this scene that's unfolding have quickly scurried off to their classes, pretending they haven't seen anything. Blaine sees one of Azimio's hands curl into a fist as he takes another step towards Blaine but before he can do anything, a familiar voice comes from behind Azimio and Karofsky and captures the attention of all three of them.

"What the fuck do you two think you're doing?"

There stands Santana, hair swept up into a high ponytail and wearing a dark green camouflage jacket over a white tank top and dark blue jeans with black ankle high boots. Blaine thinks she looks quite intimidating as she stands there, fixing Karofsky and Azimio with a cold glare.

"Go to class, Lopez" Azimio grunts, taking a step away from Blaine and closer to Santana.

"Can't you see we're busy?" Karofsky adds.

Santana stands her ground, folding her arms tightly across her chest and looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"What, being the world's biggest assholes?" she snaps and Blaine suppresses the urge to laugh, guessing it won't do him any favours.

Azimio takes a threatening step towards Santana who merely raises a finger in what seems to be a warning.

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you" she says, tone calm as if she isn't about to be threatened by one of McKinley's strongest jocks.

"Oh yeah?" Azimio growls, "What are you gonna do?"

Santana narrows her eyes, stepping closer to Azimio.

"Wouldn't you like to know" she hisses, a dangerous glint in her eye.

There's a tense moment as Karofsky and Blaine take in the scene in front of them where Blaine thinks Azimio's about to snap and shove Santana. He shifts, an anxious knot growing in his stomach and Karofsky must catch the movement because he looks at Blaine with thinly veiled disgust before he looks back at Azimio and Santana.

"Come on, Z, let's just leave it" Karofsky sighs, eyes flicking to Blaine, then to Santana, and then settling back on Azimio, "They're not worth it".

Azimio doesn't move for a few seconds and Blaine wonders whether he's going to listen to Karofsky but then he lets out a huff, turning away from Santana, and stalks off down the hallway. Karofsky gives Blaine a scathing look before following after Azimio.

Blaine lets out a breath he didn't realise he was holding, leaning his head back against his locker. In his head he's thanking Santana a thousand times, not able to talk at that moment. He doesn't want to think about what might have happened if she hadn't shown up.

"I think you and I really need to talk" Santana says, expression and tone soft.

"Don't you have class?" Blaine asks, confused because he may have a free period now but Santana does not.

Santana rolls her eyes, smirk appearing on her face.

"I'm sure they're surviving fine without me" she replies, taking Blaine's hand and tugging him after her as she makes her way down the hallway in the opposite direction that Karofsky and Azimio went.

Blaine just lets her lead him out towards the football field and to their normal hangout under the bleachers, not saying anything. She doesn't say anything either, walking ahead of him and keeping a firm grasp on his hand. When they reach their spot, Santana drops Blaine's hand and takes a seat on the couch. Blaine sits down at the other end of the couch, eyes trained on his hands which are currently residing in his lap.

"So..." Blaine starts off, not actually sure what to say.

"I'm worried about you" he hears Santana say and his eyes snap up to look at her.

She's got her legs curled up beneath her on the couch, body angled to face Blaine, and her elbow leaning on the back of the couch. She's biting her bottom lip slightly and she's watching Blaine with concerned eyes. Blaine wishes she wouldn't.

"Santana, I'm – "

"Don't you dare say fine" Santana growls, some of the concern slipping away and anger taking its place.

Blaine snaps his mouth shut, eyes returning to look at his hands as he leans back against the couch cushions.

"Blaine, you're not fine" Santana continues, an urgent note in her voice, "What I saw at your locker does not constitute as you being fine".

Blaine shifts uncomfortably, knowing that she's right but not really wanting to admit it. He stays silent but he looks at Santana now.

"I'm sorry for how I acted the other day" she sighs, eyes dropping to focus on the seat of the couch between them, "It's just that I care about you and I hate that there's practically nothing I can do that will make it stop".

Blaine blinks in surprise, not expecting the apology. Santana doesn't look up at him but Blaine can tell she's done saying her part.

"You don't have to apologise" he tells her and that gets her to look up at him, "and it's not your responsibility."

Santana looks like she wants to protest at that but Blaine just shakes his head.

"I can handle it. We're graduating at the end of this year and then I'll never have to see them again. For now I'll just deal" he murmurs but he knows Santana isn't convinced.

"You shouldn't have to" she mumbles, looking back to the couch.

"No" Blaine sighs, "but that's life".

Santana frowns at him but doesn't say anything more. There's a small lull in the conversation until Blaine speaks again.

"Thank you"

Santana lets out a little huff of laughter.

"For what?"

"Earlier at my locker" Blaine elaborates with a gentle smile.

Santana nods like she only just remembered about that.

"You're welcome" she replies, returning the smile.

* * *

"You've got some flour on your jacket" Quinn informs Tina when she slips into the seat next to Quinn in their shared class of AP Biology. She guesses Tina must have had Home Economics.

Tina puts her books onto the desk and then starts twisting and turning to look for it. Quinn lets out a light laugh before leaning over and brushing it off the back of Tina's black jacket, the fabric rough beneath her fingers.

"Thanks" Tina whispers with a smile as their teacher starts talking.

Quinn smiles before turning her attention to their teacher who's talking about DNA replication. Quinn sends a silent prayer of thanks up to God because this is something she needs help with because she can just never seem to get it right. Her focus is on nothing else and so she doesn't notice Tina sitting next to her, looking like she wants to die of boredom.

It's only when their teacher assigns them pages from their textbooks to start working on for the remainder of class and Quinn hears Tina let out a long suffering sigh that she turns her attention to her.

"Are you okay?" she asks, opening her textbook and absently flicking through the pages.

Tina makes a small noise of affirmation, flicking through her own textbook although Quinn thinks that the amount of force she's using is not really necessary. It does nothing to make Quinn think that Tina is okay and apparently Tina can tell.

"I'm fine" Tina replies, "It's just that I'm not the biggest fan of Biology."

Quinn looks at her with a confused expression because she always though Tina enjoyed Bio.

"I thought you liked Bio? I mean you're really good at it so...?"

Tina quirks an eyebrow at Quinn which makes her feel like she's missing something.

"Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you have to like it" Tina answers.

"Then why do you take it?" Quinn asks.

"My parents" Tina replies and Quinn can hear the slightly bitter undertone, "They want me to have a 'substantial career' when I'm older and this is one of the subjects they deemed fit for me to take."

Quinn winces slightly in sympathy because it must suck having your parents choose how you're going to live your future but she also can't help the little twinge of jealousy that comes along with it.

"At least your parents seem to care even if they are over bearing" Quinn starts and Tina looks at her in mild confusion, "my parents have barely talked to me ever since what happened last year".

Understanding and sympathy flood Tina's expression but she doesn't get to say anything because all of a sudden their teacher is standing in front of their desk, looking slightly disappointed, and Quinn realises that they haven't even started their work. They mumble out apologies, fishing out pens from their pencil cases and actually getting their textbooks to the right pages. Their teacher doesn't move until they've started their work and then he moves away from their table.

Neither Quinn nor Tina say anything at first and Quinn takes the time to think about how she and Tina have never really had conversations like this and how they're quite similar in a way. She has a new found respect for the girl sitting next to her.

"It's not just this class that's got me in a bad mood though" Tina says as she scribbles down an answer on her refill paper.

"What else is it?" Quinn asks, eyes scanning through one of the pages of her textbook to find the answer to the question she's on.

"It's Blaine" Tina replies and Quinn looks up from her page.

"I'm just so worried about him" Tina continues, pausing in her writing but her eyes don't look up from her page.

Quinn gets it. She's worried about Blaine too but she gets the sense that Tina's not just talking about the bullying. She doesn't mention it though, feeling like it's not her place.

"Me too" Quinn murmurs gently and Tina takes a small breath before looking at her.

Quinn drops her pen onto her page and places a gentle hand on Tina's arm.

"Don't forget, he's got all of us looking out for him. We're not going to let anything happen to him and honestly I'm a little afraid of what Santana would do to anyone who dared".

Tina smiles down at Quinn's hand, eyes a little bright. She places a hand on Quinn's for a few seconds before they both remove their hands and get back to their work.

* * *

It's after she's said goodbye to Quinn and is making her way to her locker to switch out her books for the next two classes with the books she's currently holding, that it happens. Tina doesn't see it so much as feel it when the cold ice of the slushy hits her in the face and slides down over her skin. It had startled her so much that she'd dropped her books and her pencil case and the loud noise of them hitting the floor makes her jump. She can hear loud jeers of laughter coming from further down the hallway but she can't open her eyes to see who they were and she feels like she's about to have a meltdown in the middle of the hallway.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up" a kind voice suddenly says and Tina flinches a little when a gently hand wraps around her arm and pulls her in the direction of what Tina assumes is the girls' bathroom.

Upon entering the bathroom, Tina figures out that her and the girl who had rescued her are not alone as there another set of footsteps that Tina can hear that don't belong to either of them. Before she can give it much thought, however, she finds herself being directed to sit down in a chair and then her head is being tilted back until the back of her neck touches something cold and Tina figures out that its sink. The sound of running water fills Tina's ears, blocking out the rest of the sound in the sound and she feels hands run through her hair, cleaning out the slushy.

Once the water is turned off and Tina feels a hand pushing her slowly into a sitting position, she feels a towel being placed her hands and she runs it over her face and hair. Slowly she lets herself open her eyes as she brings the towel away from her face and sees Mercedes Jones and Rachel Berry, the glee club's two best singers, standing before her wearing matching expressions of concern and sympathy. Tina sees her books and pencil case clutched in Rachel's grasp and she smiles, gratitude welling up inside her.

"Thank you" she says quietly, eyes flicking between Mercedes and Rachel and her smile growing slightly when they smile back.

"You're welcome" Mercedes says with a light shrug to accompany her words, Rachel nodding her head in agreement.

"Slushies are something Mercedes and I are particularly well versed in so it was nothing" Rachel adds, jutting her chin out into the air slightly.

Mercedes shakes her head at Rachel with what seems to be fond exasperation. Rachel drops her chin with a sigh, eyes softening when she takes in Tina still sitting at the sink with dripping wet hair and a shivering slightly.

"You're going to need to change out of those clothes" she says, tone filled with sympathy as she readjusts Tina's books in her arms a little.

Tina looks down and sees the front of her white button-up shirt is sporting bright blue splotches and she can feel slushy weighing down her jacket and seeping through the fabric of her black lace skirt and through her black tights. She shifts uncomfortably before looking back up at Mercedes and Rachel.

"It's ok" Mercedes assures her, "You can borrow some of Rachel's".

Tina looks over at Rachel, who's wide brown eyes are flicking between Tina and Mercedes before she lets out a sigh.

"Fine. I'll go get them" Rachel huffs, "You can hold these".

Those last words are said to Mercedes as Rachel gives her Tina's books and then strides out of the bathroom. Mercedes rolls her eyes as the door swings shut before adjusting Tina's books so she has better grasp on them. Tina feels like she should take them back but she doesn't want to get her things ruined by the slushy so she just remains in her seat. She guesses that this type of situation is why there is even a chair in the bathroom in the first place.

"Shouldn't you guys be in class instead of helping me?" Tina asks after a while, catching Mercedes' attention.

"Nah" Mercedes replies with a warm smile, "Rachel and I have free period now".

"Oh" is all Tina says to that, feeling slightly honoured that the two of them would give up time from their free period to help her get cleaned up.

Rachel re-enters the bathroom, holding a neat pile of clothes in her hands. She hands them to Tina, who takes them with a quiet thank you. Tina stands and then disappears into one of the bathroom stalls, starting to get changed. She can hear Rachel and Mercedes murmuring quietly to each other out by the sink but she can't hear actual words and she feels a little bad trying to eavesdrop so she focuses her attention on drying herself with the towel and getting changed into Rachel's clothes.

When she emerges she's wearing a short black skirt, white three-quarter length top, and a red cardigan covered in white hearts. Rachel gives a little nod of approval when she sees her and Mercedes moves to take the towel from her, handing her back her books as she does so. They both fold up her clothes and the Rachel produces a plastic bag that Tina never noticed she had, but she guesses Rachel must have gotten it when she went to her locker earlier, and they put Tina's clothes in there.

They're all about to leave the bathroom when Rachel speaks up and Tina is a little surprised by her question.

"Can you sing?" she asks casually, holding open the bathroom door while both Tina and Mercedes go through before letting it close behind her.

Tina is baffled and doesn't quite know whether to answer or not but the expectant looks on Mercedes and Rachel's faces mean they're waiting for one.

"Uh, yeah I guess" Tina answers, feeling a little self-conscious.

Rachel lets out a squeal of delight making Tina jump and Mercedes wince as it echoes against the walls of the empty hallway.

"Excellent" Rachel declares, "You must audition for glee club".

"Only if you want to" Mercedes hastens to add, earning her a quick glare from Rachel before she goes back to grinning at Tina.

Tina sees their excited looks, thinks back to how they just helped her clean up and how Rachel let her borrow her clothes, albeit a little begrudgingly. She feels like she owes it to them to at least audition.

"Okay, I'll do it" she agrees, causing Rachel's smile to grow even brighter.

"Choir room, Monday afternoon" Mercedes informs her, "Rehearsal starts straight after school".

Tina nods at them both with a smile before sighing.

"I should get to Chemistry" she tells them, "I'm ridiculously late".

"Of course" Rachel replies, "See you on Monday, Tina".

Tina nods again, slightly surprised that Rachel knows her name but not dwelling on it, waving at them before turning and hurriedly making her way to the Chemistry lab. She doesn't have the right books and she awkwardly has a bag of her slushy-stained clothes but she doesn't want to be later than she already is and she figures she can just copy Blaine's notes later.

* * *

Quinn feels relieved when the bell rings for lunch, desperately wanting a cigarette. She's making her way out towards where the other three will be meeting under the bleachers when Noah Puckerman is suddenly standing in front of her, causing her to stop walking.

"Hey babe" he greets with a wink. Quinn rolls her eyes.

"My name's Quinn, in case you'd forgotten" she spits, pushing past him and continuing walking towards the bleachers.

Puck doesn't seem to take the hint as he turns and runs slightly to catch up with Quinn's fast pace.

"So I've been thinking" he starts off and Quinn has to bite her tongue to stop herself from making a comment on that, "that last year was fun. You know, me and you".

Quinn stops walking again, rounding on Puck, anger seeping into her veins. Fun? Quinn went through a teen pregnancy, had to give the baby up, became even more isolated from most of the student population of McKinley High aside from her friends, and her parents will barely even acknowledge her. She has no idea how any of that is supposed to equate to fun.

"I was even thinking we should do it again sometime" Puck offers.

Quinn can barely believe what she's hearing.

"Why on earth would you think that would be a good idea?" Quinn questions, anger steadily growing.

Puck takes a step closer to her and she takes a step away in response.

"Aww, come on Quinn" Puck scoffs, letting out a little exasperated laugh, "We had something special."

"No" Quinn says, voice low and full of venom, before she stalks off towards the bleachers.

"Why not!?" she hears Puck yell and is glad that he doesn't seem to be following her.

She turns to face Puck but doesn't stop walking as she answers him.

"Because I'm getting out of here and last time I checked you have no idea what you're doing with your life!" she yells back in reply before turning back around.

She reaches the others just in time to discover that Tina was slushied earlier and that Santana is just about ready to kill a person.

* * *

Kurt's sitting awkwardly next to him on his bed, legs crossed beneath him and biting his lip.

Blaine's been in a bad mood all day and finding out at lunch that Tina had been slushied had just made everything worse. Brittany Pierce, captain of the cheer leading team, passed on to him a message from Kurt, in the hallway as he was about to leave school, to come over to Kurt's place at seven that night, and Blaine had felt just about ready to scream but he'd come anyway.

"Blaine..." Kurt starts to say but Blaine doesn't let him finish.

"I can't do this" Blaine mumbles, getting up from the bed and starting to makes his way towards the door of Kurt's room.

"No, wait" he hears Kurt say hurriedly behind him and feels a tug on the sleeve of his shirt that makes him turn around.

"Why can't you do this?" Kurt asks, confusion written all over his face as he lets go of Blaine's sleeve.

Blaine lets out a deep sigh, knowing that Kurt has no idea what school is like for him or for the girls. It used to be just odd comments or locker shoves, most of the talking about them being behind their backs. Now the locker shoves are twice as hard, the bullies are becoming more frightening, and now slushies are being thrown, literally, into the mix. Kurt doesn't know that because it's not happening to him and it never will. Blaine finds himself angry at Kurt for that.

"Because today I was shoved into my locker and twice and threatened before one of my best friends stepped in and got herself threatened in the process" Kurt's looks of confusion only grows so Blaine plows on, the anger in his voice growing, "Then another of my best friends got slushied by some meatheads and it was your part of the McKinley High social structure. The people who'll never have to deal with that so they decide that the 'lesser' people have to deal with it instead".

Kurt just stares at him, seemingly surprised at Blaine's outburst. There's a flicker of sadness that passes over Kurt's face but it's gone before Blaine can really register it. Kurt steps closer to Blaine and Blaine raises an eyebrow at him. His outburst calmed him down some but he still feels worked up.

"Then let me help you forget for a while" Kurt whispers before closing the space between them, pressing his lips to Blaine's and Blaine feels his resolve disappear as he kisses Kurt back and lets Kurt walk them back towards his bed.

* * *

On the other side of town, Quinn and Santana are sitting in Santana's parent's car in the empty parking lot of the local park, sharing a bottle of Jack Daniels that Santana had managed to sneak from her house.

"Can we talk about what was going on with you and Josh Coleman Wednesday morning?" Quinn asks and Santana stiffens slightly though she knows this was coming.

"I gave him the night of his life and he thanked me" she replies in as nonchalant of a tone as she can manage before taking a swig of Jack Daniels.

She offers Quinn the bottle, not liking the way that Quinn's looking at her. She'd rather deal with Quinn looking at her with a look of disgust than the pained look she's wearing. Quinn takes the bottle but doesn't take a sip.

"Don't say a damn word, Fabray. I don't want to hear it" Santana warns because she knows Quinn wants to.

Quinn narrows her eyes at her but then she lets out a sigh, placing the bottle between them.

"Fine"

Santana lets a satisfied smile creep onto her face, glad to have dodged that bullet. She figures Quinn's just about as tired as she is after the events of this week and that's why it was so easy to get her to back off. She digs out her packet of cigarettes from her bag and her lighter and lights a cigarette before taking a long drag and then passing it to Quinn.

They sit there in the car, bottle of Jack Daniels now forgotten between them. Silence fills the car now as their minds wander, Quinn taking a drag on the cigarette.

"I'm going to get out of here" Quinn says quietly, passing the cigarette back to Santana.

Santana takes it from her, not saying anything. She takes a drag of the cigarette, letting her breath out slowly on the exhale. The smoke drifts around her before disappearing out the open car window.

"How?" she finally asks, passing the cigarette back to Quinn.

It's Quinn's turn not to answer straight away and Santana looks over to her. Quinn's eyes are fixed on the cigarette which she's holding slightly away from her. It's like suddenly the cigarette's just not good enough for her and Santana can't help the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She slides further down in the driver's seat and fixes her gaze on the car's dashboard.

"I don't know" Quinn answers as she hands the cigarette back to Santana without having taken a drag, "I just know that I can't stay here".

Santana can't help the slight twinge of betrayal she feels at that. She knows what Quinn means, she does, but it still hurts in a way that she wishes it wouldn't.

She takes the cigarette back from Quinn, no longer wanting it. She stubs it out against the dashboard and then flicks it out the window. She can't help but feel that it's a symbol for her. That she's disposable; not good enough.

"Why?" she asks, not looking at Quinn because she can't. It's too much.

"Because there's nothing for me here"

The feeling in the pit of Santana's stomach intensifies at those words as she wills herself not to get emotional. It's just that she needs Quinn. She needs her and she needs Blaine and, hell, she even needs Tina Cohen-Chang. They all have plans, they're all getting out because they can but Santana is what they'll be leaving behind and it kills her more than she'll ever let on.

"I don't know how to do this without you" she whispers, the words slipping out unintentionally.

Silence meets her words and Santana silently begs Quinn not to say anything. Because Quinn knows her better than anyone, she doesn't say a word but extends her hand out towards Santana. Santana takes it without hesitation, holding on tightly, and in that moment she feels safe.

* * *

Tina spends her Friday night and weekend trying out different songs for her glee club audition on Monday. She hasn't told the others about her audition and doesn't plan to until she knows whether or not she got in. She's incredibly nervous about singing in front of other people but she knows she can't back out now.

By Monday, she's decided on Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine and is feeling pretty confident that she can do a good job of it.

After school she heads to the choir room just like Mercedes had told her to do on Friday and stops at the door when she reaches it, taking in the scene before her. It doesn't look like their teacher is there but Tina can see Rachel talking what looks to be a mile-a-minute to Finn Hudson who just smiles at Rachel. There's a boy in wheelchair doing some intricate looking moves with his chair but Tina can't see Mercedes and she wonders where the girl could be.

That mystery is solved, however, when Tina feels an arm loop through one of hers. She looks over to see Mercedes smiling at her.

"Glad you came, girl" Mercedes says as a greeting, bumping her hip against Tina's.

"I told you I would" Tina replies, ducking her head slightly.

Mercedes makes a noise of affirmation before pulling Tina into the room with her and leading her over to the spare seats next to Rachel.

"Tina!" Rachel squeals excitedly, turning her attention away from Finn, who looks confused, as Tina and Mercedes take their seats.

"Who's Tina?" he asks, frowning when Rachel smacks his shoulder.

"This is Tina" Mercedes answers, pointing at Tina who gives Finn a small wave, "she's auditioning today".

A look of realization dawns on Finn's face and he grins as he waves back at Tina.

"I'm Finn" he tells her and Tina just nods and smiles at him because she already knew that.

Any further conversation is halted however when their teacher, Mr Schuester, enters the room. Tina only knows who he is because Santana is constantly complaining about his lack of knowledge of the Spanish language. The boy in the wheelchair stops his intricate moves and moves to sit close to the others. Rachel's hand shoots into the air before Mr Schuester has a chance to greet them and he gives a little laugh before indicating to Rachel that she can speak.

"Mr Schue, we have a possible new member to audition" she informs him and Mr Schue looks surprised before he notices Tina.

"Oh, well, that's great" he says, clapping his hands together, "do you have song prepared?"

Tina nods, her nerves making her not trust her voice to speak. Mr Schue beckons for her to make her way down to the floor and she does so, turning to face the club once she's there.

"My name is Tina Cohen-Chang and I'll be singing Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine" she introduces herself and her song choice gets a look of approval from Mercedes and the boy in the wheelchair.

She's expecting to have to sing it acapella but then a band that she never even noticed was there start playing and Tina lets herself get lost in the music.

_A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes_

Tina pours her heart into the song, wanting to do the best she can. She lets the music take over and it feels amazing. As the song draws to a close, she's out of breath and feeling freer than she's felt in a long time.

The other four are applauding her, Rachel and Mercedes with twin bright grins on their faces and Tina can't help but smile back. Mr Schue makes his way over to her, clapping too, and then he motions for the others to be quiet which they do. He then turns to Tina with a smile and rests a hand on her shoulder.

"Tina Cohen-Chang" he says and Tina holds her breath, "Welcome to glee club".

* * *

**Song used in this chapter was obviously Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine :)**

**So yeah, I can't write smut for shit which is why that Klaine scene ended where it did. Who knows whether I'll be able to later on in the fic but for now I'm pretty hopeless :P**

**Also the scene with Quinn and Santana is first scene that I wrote for this fic and is what basically inspired the rest of it although I have added to it to make it fit with what's been happening so far.**

**Updates should hopefully be quicker seeing as today is my last day of exams so I'll have more free time to write.**

**Again, feedback is very much appreciated :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Chapter 3! So sorry for the wait for this chapter, I was busier this week than I thought I would be. Apologies for the shortness of this chapter but for some reason I found this chapter rather difficult to write. Anyways, here it is and I hope you enjoy :) Oh and once again, thank you so much for favouriting and following this story!**

* * *

Tuesday lunch time and Blaine finds himself wedged between Santana and Quinn on their ratty old couch as the girls practice speaking in Spanish. According to Quinn they have a small test on their speaking that afternoon and so they're testing each other on their fluency. Blaine thinks they both sound fine and so he lets his eyes slip shut as their voices wash over him.

"Oh, hey Tina" Blaine hears Quinn say and he cracks one eye open to see Tina standing before them, bright grin on her face.

"Well you're sure happy about something" Santana notes before Tina can say anything in greeting and Blaine opens both eyes now.

Tina looks between the three of them on the couch before taking a deep breath.

"I've got exciting news" she announces and the others all focus their attention solely on her, "I auditioned for glee club."

Blaine, Quinn, and Santana simply stare at her for a moment before they each react. Santana frowns at Tina while Blaine and Quinn look surprised.

"So what was the verdict?" Blaine asks when it becomes apparent that no one else is going to say anything.

Tina focuses her attention on Blaine now, an excited glint in her eyes.

"I got in" she replies, giggling as Blaine gets up from the couch and wraps his arms around her in a congratulatory hug.

"Congratulations, T" he murmurs and he feels her arms tighten around him in response.

He hears Quinn offer Tina her congratulations as he pulls back from the hug and faces the other two on the couch. Tina thanks Quinn and then everyone looks to Santana, who hasn't said a word. She's still frowning, her eyes narrowed like she's trying to figure out something particularly difficult.

"Do you have a death wish?" she finally asks Tina and the air thickens with tension as Tina stiffens next to Blaine.

"No...?" Tina says slowly, her confusion turning it into a question as she narrows her eyes at Santana.

Quinn and Blaine exchange anxious looks before looking back to the scene unfolding before them. Santana still looks highly displeased but her eyes are no longer narrowed.

"Why would you ask that?" Tina asks, tone defensive as she folds her arms across her chest.

"You got slushied last week, right?" Santana queries, though she already knows what the answer will be.

Tina shifts uncomfortably, looking down at her shoes. She does nod her head in affirmation though.

"So then why would you go and join the club that, aside from Finn Hudson, gets the most slushies tossed in their faces of the whole school?" Santana asks, making it apparent why she asked if Tina had a death wish.

Blaine and Quinn stay quiet, though Blaine does place a comforting hand on Tina's back. He feels her lean back slightly into it so he leaves it there.

"Maybe because I like singing and some of those people in that club were the ones who helped me clean up after that slushy last week" Tina retorts and Blaine feels a slight stab of shame at that. A quick glance to the other two shows that they feel the same though any evidence of it is gone from Santana's face practically a second after it's appeared.

"Fine" Santana sighs, "But don't say I didn't warn you".

Tina lets out an aggravated huff but doesn't reply. Blaine moves his hand in gentle circles across Tina's back, unable to help the feeling of apprehension Santana's words give him.

* * *

"I'm home!" Quinn announces when she arrives home that afternoon, not surprised when silence is all she gets in response.

She knows her parents are home; had seen both of their cars in the driveway. She just goes straight up to her room, not in the mood to try and get her parents to acknowledge her existence, and closes the door behind her before dropping her bag on the floor and collapsing unceremoniously onto her bed.

Something's been playing through Quinn's mind ever since Friday and she can't stop thinking about it. What Puck was saying about the two of them, she has to wonder if he was serious. Did he really think what they had last year was special? Quinn had at the time, now she's not so sure. She'd lost almost everything in the aftermath but it had shown her who was really there for her.

Sometimes it's just not enough though. Sometimes she thinks back to the day when she had the baby, a baby girl they'd named Beth, and remembers the way it had felt to hold her in her arms. She and Puck had created this precious little life and for a few perfect moments she had been theirs.

They'd put her up for adoption, having already both decided that neither of them were ready to be parents, and then she was gone. All Quinn can hope is that she's happy.

She doesn't even realise she's crying until she feels the tears dropping onto her hand. She flinches before laughing a little and wiping her eyes.

Sometimes she has days like these but at the end of the day she knows they did the right thing.

* * *

It's two days since they'd found out Tina had auditioned for and gotten into glee club and Santana's words are still stuck in Blaine's head.

As he leaves his French class and makes his way over to his locker, inwardly worrying if Tina made it to her class in one piece, he feels someone brush past him and turns slightly to see who it was. The person turns out to be Kurt and he gives Blaine a small, barely there, smile. Blaine is too surprised by the fact that Kurt is actually somewhat acknowledging his existence in public to do anything except give a tiny smile back.

Just like that it's over though, and Kurt is walking away. Blaine just sort of stands there for a few more seconds before he starts to once again move towards his locker.

As he switches his books out for his next classes, he makes a mental note to talk about this with Tina later.

* * *

Blaine and Tina both have a free period after lunch and as they sit in the library, Tina with her Chemistry books open in front of her and Blaine flicking through his Calculus textbook, Blaine decides that this would be the perfect time to talk to Tina about what happened with Kurt earlier. Luckily they're the only ones in their corner of the library so they don't have to worry about someone overhearing.

"Tina, can I talk to you about something?" Blaine asks, giving up on his textbook and leaning back in his seat.

"Sure" Tina replies and she looks pleased to have a distraction from her Chemistry books.

"It's about Kurt"

Tina frowns slightly but Blaine isn't surprised by it. He knows all too well how Tina feels about Kurt but she's the only one he can talk to about this and he wants to try and figure out what happened today and, to a certain extent, the look he thought he saw on Kurt's face on Friday.

Tina raises an eyebrow at him with an expectant look on her face and Blaine realises that she's waiting for him to elaborate.

"Ok, so you know how when we're at school he acts like I don't exist and I do the same with him?" Tina nods so Blaine continues, "Well something interesting happened in the hallway after French this morning".

"Did it now?" Tina inquires, light smirk on her face.

Blaine nods his head, laughing a little at the teasing note in Tina's voice before he feels his face grow serious. In response, the smirk disappears from Tina's face and she tilts her head to one side slightly, watching Blaine with a thoughtful expression.

"He, uh, he brushed past me on the way out of class, an accident probably, and when I turned and saw that it was him, he...well...he..."

"Yes?" Tina interrupts but she snaps her mouth shut at the glare Blaine gives her before he continues talking.

"He smiled at me. It was small but it was there" he says with a small shrug.

Tina's eyes widen in surprise and her mouth parts slightly.

"So, what'd you do?" she asks, moving forward in her seat a little so she's almost sitting on the edge.

"I smiled back" Blaine answers as if it's obvious.

Tina smiles slightly at that, settling back in her seat.

"That's not all though" Blaine says before Tina has a chance to say something.

"Oh?" Tina moves back to sitting at the edge of her seat.

"Something happened on Friday as well"

She just waves her hand at him like she just wants him to get to the point so Blaine continues,

"I was so angry at just about everything and when I was at his house I basically yelled at him about everything that had happened last week and that it was his part of the McKinley High social structure that did the damage".

Tina lets out a snort of laughter at that.

"I can't imagine he was too happy about that" she comments and Blaine thinks he can spot a proud glint in her eye.

"He did look surprised" Blaine replies, "though he did almost look, I don't know, pained for a second. I didn't really get enough time to see it properly".

The thoughtful expression returns to Tina's face and a small pleased smile appears.

"Maybe Kurt Hummel's not so bad after all"

Blaine can't help but agree.

* * *

It's after school so Santana figures no one will be there or care if she uses the dance studio without signing up for it.

She moves to one of the ballet bars, dropping her bag down next to it, and takes a deep breath. Dance is one of Santana's secret loves. There's no way she's going to go around dancing for other people but using it as a way of escape calms Santana and puts things into perspective.

The sound of the door opening draws her out of her reverie and her head whips around to find captain of the Cheerios Brittany Pierce looking at her curiously.

"Can I help you?" Santana asks in a hard tone, feeling exposed now that there's someone else here.

Brittany blinks, not answering Santana's question. She tilts her head to one side slightly before straightening up and moving towards Santana. Santana has no idea what is going on so she says the first thing that comes into her head.

"Do you want me to leave?"

Santana's never actually properly spoken to Brittany before, considering they're on opposite ends of the popularity spectrum, so she's not sure what to say and Brittany's not really giving her much to go off of.

"Why would I want that?" Brittany asks in response, looking genuinely confused.

This conversation is frustrating Santana and so she just shrugs and then bends down to pick up her bag and just get the hell out of there. All of a sudden a hand appears in her line of vision and she looks up to see Brittany smiling down at her.

"Dance with me?" she asks and she seems so genuine that Santana can't help the smile that creeps on her face as she accepts Brittany's outstretched hand.

* * *

**Hopefully the next chapter should be up sooner and should be longer but I don't want to make promises I may not be able to keep.**

**Thanks for reading and feedback is much appreciated :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I'm back and here is chapter four! Apologies for the wait, I kept changing my mind with how I wanted this chapter to go but I finally got it how I wanted more or less. Once again, a massive thank you to those who have favourited or followed this story - it truly does mean so much to me that people like my story :) Also feel free to leave your thoughts on the story so far because I would love to hear what you guys think. Anyways, enough from me :P Enjoy the chapter and there should hopefully be another update soon.**

**Chapter Four:**

A few weeks have passed and Tina feels like she's really beginning to find her place with glee club. She's made good friends in Rachel and Mercedes, Finn's really nice, and so is the boy in the wheelchair – Artie, Tina had learnt his name was. Despite what Santana was saying, Tina has yet to be slushied again though she has helped Rachel clean up after a few.

Due to their small number of members, Mr Schuester just lets them each come up and perform whatever they want should they feel inclined. This lesson has been mostly dominated by Finn and Rachel, who sang a few duets; though Artie did a great rendition of Billie Jean complete with awesome wheelchair moves.

When the bell rings, Mr Schuester dismisses them and reminds them about practice on Monday. Tina reaches for her bag by her seat, slinging it over her shoulder and waiting for Mercedes to grab her things as they've got Home Ec together now.

Once they're both ready, Mercedes links her arm through Tina's and they make their way to class. They get there and settle into their seats before quite a few of their class mates do so Mercedes takes advantage of the spare time they have to talk, turning to face Tina.

"Do you want to come over to mine for a sleepover with me and Rachel tomorrow night?" she asks with a hopeful smile.

Tina mentally checks her plans for tomorrow night, realising sadly that she's going to have to tell her no because she has plans with Blaine then.

"I can't, I already have plans" Tina sighs, giving Mercedes an apologetic smile.

Mercedes smiles back with a shrug of her shoulders.

"No problem" she replies "but you're eating lunch with Artie, Rachel, and me today. None of this disappearing out to the football field."

Tina lets out a startled laugh, not sure what to make of the fact that Mercedes has noticed where she spends her lunch times. She thinks over Mercedes' demand and finds herself wanting to say yes. She loves Blaine, Quinn, and even Santana despite the fact that she's angry with her, but she really likes hanging out with Mercedes and Rachel and Artie's a cool guy and Tina doesn't see the harm in spending time with her new friends.

"Sounds good" she says in response and Mercedes beams at her.

* * *

"Where is everyone?"

This is the first thing out of Santana's mouth when she reaches their couch that lunch time to find that Blaine is the only one there. She sits down, toeing off her shoes, and stretching her legs out across the couch so that her socked feet are resting gently against Blaine's thigh.

"Uh, Tina is in the cafeteria with some of the people from glee club and Quinn is working on a project in the library" Blaine answers, looking thoughtful.

Santana's quite glad that Quinn and Tina aren't here because she has something that she wants to talk to Blaine about alone but something doesn't sit right with her in terms of Tina sitting with other people for lunch. Aren't Blaine, Quinn, and Santana supposed to be her friends? Yeah, she and Santana are currently not on speaking terms but that's not an unusual occurrence. Santana just doesn't understand it but she doesn't dwell on it for too long because that's not what she wants to talk to Blaine about.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Santana asks, cursing her voice for how quiet it comes out.

Blaine turns his body to face her now, being careful to not disturb her feet and Santana can't help the smile that forms because of it.

"Of course you can" Blaine replies and his voice is so goddamn earnest that it almost makes Santana want to spill all of her secrets to him but she doesn't because there are things she doesn't want him to know.

Santana takes a moment to think about how she even wants to start this conversation. She's so confused about what her feelings are right now that she's not sure she'll make sense when she starts talking.

She finally starts off by telling him about how she feels about dance, taking encouragement from his reassuring smile, before recounting the events in the dance studio with Brittany. They haven't had any more run-ins like that since then but Brittany always smiles at her when they pass by each other in the hallway and Santana has no idea what to make of the giddy feeling in her stomach that it causes.

Blaine for his part simply sits there and lets Santana talk. He doesn't interrupt, seeming to sense how important it is for her to get all of this out.

"I have no idea what I'm supposed to be feeling" is the last thing she says, feeling a slight weight being lifted from her shoulders from telling Blaine.

"I don't think there's a set way that you're supposed to be feeling" Blaine replies, resting a hand on Santana's leg.

"Would be helpful if there was" Santana grumbles, kicking Blaine gently when he laughs.

She's not really lying though; it would be easier if there was a set way that she was supposed to be feeling. She's not good at dealing with feelings, prefers to push them as far away as she possibly can so she can just ignore them.

"How about, instead of focusing on how you _should_ be feeling, we focus on how you _do_ feel?" Blaine suggests and his face is full of encouragement and Santana is now starting to regret bringing up the subject.

Santana shrugs her shoulders as an answer which draws a small sigh from Blaine.

"What about Brittany?" Blaine asks and Santana raises an eyebrow.

"What about her?"

"How do you feel about her?"

The question pulls Santana up short and she really struggles for an answer. The memory of the dance studio keeps replaying in her mind.

"Do you like her?" Blaine asks, softly and though the question scares Santana, knowing that he doesn't mean liking her just as a friend, she answers honestly.

"I think I could" she murmurs, taking comfort in Blaine's warm smile.

"Well that's a start" is his reply and Santana lets herself relax as Blaine doesn't push the subject any further.

"Can we just keep this between the two of us?" she asks and Blaine nods which causes relief to course through her.

"Thanks" she says quietly.

Blaine merely squeezes her leg, where his hand still rests, in reply.

* * *

It's Saturday afternoon and Kurt and Blaine are in Kurt's room making out on Kurt's bed; hands sliding over skin and small moans being captured by each other's lips.

No one else is there, Kurt's dad at the tire shop, Kurt's step mom and Finn visiting Finn's aunt for the day. Blaine's parents didn't really seem to care that he was going out, simply telling him to be home for dinner. Blaine guesses it's because they're just happy that he'd invited Tina over last night.

Kurt's hand is wandering dangerously close to the button of Blaine's now uncomfortably tight jeans when they hear the sound of the front door being slammed shut downstairs. Kurt sits bolt upright, scrambling off Blaine and moving off the bed to look out the window.

"Shit" Blaine hears him hiss.

"Kurt?" Blaine ventures and Kurt turns around to look at him.

He looks terrified.

"Finn and Carole are home" he tells Blaine, a tiny shake in his voice.

"I thought they weren't coming back until later?" Blaine says, his brain still trying to catch up with what's happening.

"Well obviously plans have changed" Kurt hisses angrily as he moves back towards the bed.

He picks up his and Blaine's shirts from where they've been discarded on the floor, throwing Blaine's at him before putting his own back on and smoothing it down. Blaine puts his shirt on, moving to sit at the edge of the bed. He's never seen this side of Kurt before – panicked – and he's not sure what to make of it.

"I don't suppose there's going to be any way for me to slip out unnoticed?" Blaine asks and the glare Kurt throws his way is answer enough.

"Not unless you want to attempt a jump out the window"

He probably meant it as a joke but as soon as the suggestion leaves Kurt's lips, his eyes brighten and he opens his mouth to speak. Blaine speaks before he can say anything though.

"Kurt, I am not jumping out your second story window just to avoid your step mom and stepbrother".

Kurt's face falls and he deflates slightly as the fight appears to leave him. A resigned look appears in his eyes as he looks away from Blaine and to his bedroom door. Blaine wants to ask if he's ok but he doesn't get the chance because now Kurt's talking.

"Guess we should go downstairs"

Blaine just nods in agreement when Kurt looks at him and gets up off the bed, putting his shoes back on and then moving with Kurt towards the door. Kurt's hand is about to turn the door knob and pull the door open when a thought occurs to Blaine.

"What are you going to tell them?" he asks.

Kurt's hand freezes as he appears to think over Blaine's question.

"I'll think of something" he mutters, pulling the door open and making his way down the hallway. Blaine hurries after him, not feeling comforted at all by that answer.

When they get downstairs, Kurt's step mom is just coming out of the kitchen and at first she doesn't seem to notice Blaine because she only addresses Kurt.

"Oh, Kurt, I was just about to come up to see if you were home" she says, seeming slightly flustered. Blaine's glad she didn't come up sooner.

Kurt's about to answer when she seems to finally notice Blaine and she startles slightly. Blaine gives her a little wave.

"I didn't realise you had a friend over" this is punctuated with a raised eyebrow as she waits for an explanation as to who Blaine is. Blaine wonders what Kurt's going to tell her.

"French project"

His step mom looks confused so Kurt elaborates.

"We're partners".

Both Blaine and Kurt tense slightly as they wait to see if she buys it. She seems to as she nods her head and her face softens.

"I'm Blaine" Blaine informs her when Kurt doesn't introduce him further, holding out his hand towards her.

"Lovely to meet you Blaine" she replies with a warm smile, shaking his hand before releasing it, "I'm Carole".

Blaine returns the smile but doesn't say anything because at that moment Finn emerges from the kitchen, a cookie in hand. He stops just behind his mom when he notices Blaine awkwardly standing next to Kurt and confusion takes over his features.

"I'm just going to walk Blaine out" Kurt says before anyone else can say a word, wrapping a hand around Blaine's arm and tugging him towards the door.

"It was lovely to meet you, Mrs Hudson. Bye Finn" Blaine gets out hurriedly as he gives in to Kurt's insistent tugs.

Carole says that it was lovely to meet him also with another warm smile while Finn gives him a confused little wave.

When Kurt and Blaine reach the front door they both let out sighs of relief and Blaine watches as Kurt's eyes slip shut for a few seconds before he's opening the door and making to walk out with Blaine.

"You don't have to walk with me, its fine" Blaine murmurs as he moves past Kurt to the front porch.

Kurt just nods his head, arranges himself so that he's standing back inside his house. His face is impassive, a change from the panicked expression he was wearing earlier.

"Goodbye Blaine" is all he says with a note of finality before he's closing the door.

Blaine sighs and makes his way to his car, something about the way Kurt had said goodbye not sitting quite right with him.

* * *

The rest of the weekend passes uneventfully for Blaine as he works on homework, occasionally texting with Quinn, Tina, or Santana. He tells Tina all about the close call with Kurt's step mom and Finn but he doesn't tell her about the way Kurt had said goodbye, still trying to figure that out himself.

It's not long until he does figure it out though. After French class on Monday, as he's making his way down the hallway, he suddenly feels himself being dragged into the empty Astronomy classroom and before he can really register what just happened, the door's being locked and he finds himself face to face with Kurt.

"Kurt?" Blaine splutters in surprise.

Kurt rests against the door, watching Blaine with a wary expression.

"We need to talk" he says quietly.

Blaine takes a seat on an empty desk near Kurt, waiting for him to go on. Kurt doesn't speak for a while, just continuing to watch Blaine. When he does speak, what comes out of his mouth is not what Blaine is expecting.

"We can't do this anymore"

It takes Blaine's brain a little while to catch up with what Kurt means. When it actually hits him that Kurt's talking about their "arrangement", it takes Blaine by surprise.

Kurt isn't looking at him so Blaine takes the time to compose himself after the surprise of Kurt's words before he speaks.

"Any particular reason why?" he asks and the question makes Kurt look at him.

Blaine is actually quite surprised by how much he cares about whether Kurt has a legitimate reason or whether he just doesn't want the arrangement anymore. It's always just been about sex, feelings have never factored into the equation and that's fine. So why does it bother Blaine that Kurt wants to end it?

"Saturday afternoon" Kurt responds and Blaine thinks back to how they came close to getting caught by Kurt's step mom and stepbrother.

A thought occurs to him then and the words are slipping out of his mouth before he has a chance to really think about them.

"That's what your goodbye meant" he says it more to himself than Kurt but Kurt hears it regardless and fixes Blaine with a strange look.

"What are you talking about?" Kurt asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"When you said goodbye to me on Saturday, something felt weird about it but I couldn't figure out what it was. Now I guess I know what you meant" Blaine explains, a shrug punctuating his last sentence.

Kurt just nods his head, looking down at the floor. Awkward silence fills the room as neither makes a move to talk. Kurt looks like he wishes he were anywhere but in this room while Blaine is just trying to make sure he understands.

"So that's it?" he asks.

Again Kurt nods.

"I can't afford another close call like that. Carole and Finn kept asking me questions about you, after you left, and I had no idea how to answer them. It was way too close for comfort. I'm just happy it wasn't my dad who almost caught us" he elaborates from the nod, sounding tired.

Blaine wants to ask what would be so bad about Kurt's family finding out about them but he already knows the answer. Blaine may be out but Kurt is certainly not. Blaine's the only one who knows Kurt's gay, he's never definitively told Tina so she just assumes Kurt has the arrangement with Blaine for fun not because he likes guys exclusively, and he knows Kurt's terrified of other people finding out. Kurt had admitted it to Blaine when they started their arrangement and that was the last time they'd spoken of it.

"Okay, if that's what you want" Blaine sighs giving Kurt a small smile.

Kurt's expression floods with relief and he returns Blaine's smile.

"Thank you" he says softly before unlocking the door and disappearing out of the classroom.

Blaine just sits there for a few moments, letting everything sink in, before his phone vibrates in his pocket and startles him.

**From Santana: **Anderson, where u at?

Blaine slides off the desk he's been sitting on and departs from the classroom as well, texting Santana that he's on his way.

* * *

When Blaine requests that Tina come over to his house that night for an emergency sleepover as they're making their way to Chemistry after lunch, Tina starts to worry. A million thoughts race through her mind as to why Blaine would need an emergency sleepover and none of them are particularly pleasant. She texts Quinn and even Santana to ask if they thought Blaine had been acting off at all today in their opinions but both had replied in the negative; Blaine had seemed fine to them. She'd called her parents and told them that she and Blaine had a Chemistry project to work on and they'd thankfully agreed to let her go.

Tina had had glee club after school, prior to going home to pack some things and have some dinner before going over to Blaine's, and as they'd been leaving rehearsal Finn had asked her if she was friends with Blaine, having seen them hanging out around school, and when she'd answered in the affirmative he had told her that Blaine seemed like a cool guy. Initially she'd been quite confused by that but then she'd remembered that Blaine had been over at Kurt's that weekend and he'd seen Finn. Tina had wondered if that whole debacle was what Blaine had called the emergency sleepover for.

When she reaches the Anderson household, Blaine's parents usher her inside and offer her some dinner which she politely declines as she toes off her shoes and leaves them neatly by the door. Blaine appears at the top of the stairs then and he looks relieved to see Tina. She smiles up at him and he smiles back.

"Go on up, dear" Mrs Anderson says and Tina gives her thanks before ascending the stairs to reach Blaine.

Blaine takes her free hand, her other hand holding a small overnight bag, and leads her to his room. Once the door is closed behind them, Blaine just throws his arms around Tina in a tight hug which she returns, though it's a little awkward with Tina still holding her bag.

"Everything okay?" she asks gently once Blaine's pulled away after a few moments, placing her overnight bag beside Blaine's bed side table.

"I just really need to talk to you" Blaine sighs, collapsing onto his bed.

Tina lets out a little noise of sympathy, moving to sit down next to him on the bed.

"Does this have anything to do with why Finn told me you seemed like a cool guy after glee club today?" she inquires, giggling a little at the wide-eyed expression she gets from Blaine in response.

"He said that?" Blaine asks, tone surprised.

Tina nods, curling her lips into her mouth to curb her giggles, before she speaks again.

"How about you explain what's been going on besides what you've already told me via text?"

So Blaine does. He fills Tina in on the weird goodbye on Saturday and then the conversation in the Astronomy classroom where Blaine had figured out what the goodbye meant and his and Kurt's arrangement had come to an end. Tina listens attentively as Blaine gets it all out, not speaking until he's done.

"I don't see why it's such a big deal if other people find out" she mutters, "I mean, does his popularity really mean that much to him?"

"It's his choice, Tina" Blaine retorts and Tina drops the subject, sensing that Blaine wants her to leave it alone.

Instead she moves her focus to Blaine.

"So how do you feel about all this?" she asks, poking him in the side gently.

Blaine shrugs, eyes fixed on the ceiling. She lets him ponder for a bit, knows that there's an actual answer somewhere in Blaine's head but he just needs some time to figure out what it is.

"Bitter" Blaine answers, looking at Tina. She gives him an expectant look so he goes on, "Bitter that after one close call he wants to put an end to all of it but I get it, I do".

"Good because _I_ don't" Tina huffs, expression softening when Blaine pats her knee in a comforting gesture.

"One day" he murmurs which confuses her but she doesn't let it show. What is he keeping from her? She pushes the question away, trusting that Blaine has a good reason.

"Honestly I didn't want to have to end it" Blaine sighs, a small frown appearing on his face.

This is what Tina has always been worried about ever since she found out about Kurt and Blaine – that Blaine would get attached without meaning to, that he would start to fall for Kurt in some way and then the whole thing would crumble.

"Why?" it's a quiet question that Tina feels like she knows the answer to but she thinks it's important to at least ask.

"Because I think it started to mean something to me"

It's nothing more than a quiet whisper that Tina only just hears and Blaine's breathing grows a little shaky as Tina slips a hand into his and intertwines their fingers, squeezing gently. Tina doesn't say anything, doesn't think there is anything she could say that'll be of any comfort, and lets Blaine take some time to compose himself. It takes a few minutes but then Blaine smiles and squeezes Tina's hand.

"So what's this about Finn Hudson thinking I'm a cool guy?"

Tina barks out a laugh before launching into an explanation of that afternoon's glee rehearsal, the atmosphere in the room growing significantly lighter.

* * *

The sleepover with Tina has given Blaine a lot to think about in terms of everything that's happened with Kurt despite the fact that she doesn't quite know the full story.

He wants to talk to Kurt but he's decided to give him space and let things settle. He doesn't want to scare Kurt away before they have a chance to really talk.

All Blaine knows is that he doesn't want things between them to be over, doesn't want to give up just yet.

* * *

**And there was chapter four :) Hope you enjoyed and feedback is much appreciated.**

**See you all soon hopefully with a new chapter :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hello! I am so so so so incredibly sorry for this very late update. Life has been crazy and this chapter just did not want to be written but I have finally finished it so here it is. Once again a big thank you to all of you who have favourited and who follow this story and really to anyone who has read this story because it really means a lot to me. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and I promise I won't take so long to update next time. **

**Disclaimer (that I forgot for the past two chapters): I do not own any of these characters.**

**Chapter Five:**

It's been a hectic week for Quinn, she's barely had anytime to hang out with her friends what with trying to make sure that she got all her homework assignments in or ready in time for their due dates. She feels exhausted and wants nothing more than to sleep the weekend away as she collapses onto her bed.

It's just as she's thinking this that she hears raised voices from further down the hallway from her bedroom. Instantly she recognises the voices as belonging to her parents and can't resist rolling her eyes.

For the past couple of weeks all she's heard from her parents is their constant arguing and if she's being completely honest, she actually preferred it when the house was practically silent all the time.

Reaching over to the pocket of her black blazer that's strewn haphazardly at the end of her bed, Quinn retrieves her iPod and puts the headphones into her ears, letting music drown out the sounds of her parents marital problems and lull her gently into sleep.

* * *

"Tina Cohen-Chang!"

Tina gives a start from where she's standing at her locker that Monday morning, turning her head in the direction of the voice to see Rachel Berry striding towards her purposefully with an excited and somewhat terrifying glint in her eye. Tina really likes Rachel but sometimes she can be a little overwhelming.

Rachel stops right in front of Tina, books clutched tight to her chest, and doesn't even wait for Tina to greet her before she starts talking.

"Do you have any plans this Saturday night?"

It takes Tina a few moments to process the question before she answers Rachel.

"Uh, I don't think so"

This answer appears to please Rachel as she grins brightly at Tina before producing a small pink piece of paper from where she's holding her books and thrusting it in Tina's direction.

"What's this?" Tina asks as she takes the piece of paper from Rachel wearily.

"An invitation" Rachel replies happily, "I'm having a little get together at my house for the glee club as a way for you to get to know everyone a little better".

Tina looks down at the pink paper with less weariness now, actually reading what it says. It's bordered with little stars and gives information for the get together. Tina feels a little overwhelmed that Rachel did this so that Tina could get to know everyone better.

"Thank you, I'd love to come" she says and if Rachel hears the way her voice trembles ever so slightly, she doesn't say a word.

"You're one of us now" Rachel tells her, smile softening a little.

Tina's about to reply when she feels an arm wind around her shoulders and sees Rachel stiffen slightly. Tina looks over to find that it's Santana who has her arm over Tina's shoulder. Tina is so surprised and confused that she can't really do anything but just stare at Santana as she gives Tina a sugary sweet smile. As far as Tina's aware, she and Santana are still not on speaking terms so she doesn't understand what Santana's doing.

"Morning T" Santana says voice full of fake cheer.

Tina doesn't say anything in reply, instead she just nods at Santana and gives her a small half smile.

"I – I should probably get to class" Tina hears Rachel say and turns her head to see Rachel's gaze flicking between Tina and Santana.

Tina opens her mouth to tell her that she doesn't have to go but before she gets the chance, Santana's answering Rachel.

"That's probably a good idea"

Rachel's eyes flick to Santana before she raises her chin a little.

"I'll see you on Saturday" she says to Tina before she turns on her heel and walks off down the hallway.

Tina watches her leave before she steps out from under Santana's arm and glares at her.

"What the hell was that?" she hisses.

Santana doesn't offer an explanation but she does roll her eyes at Tina before grabbing her hand and dragging her down the hallway, in the opposite direction to Rachel, and towards their shared AP Calculus class.

"You heard Berry – got to get to class"

* * *

Blaine decides that this must be some cruel trick of fate. Ever since Kurt called time on their arrangement it seems like Blaine sees Kurt around school more than he ever did when they still had their arrangement. Kurt's gone straight back to pretending like Blaine doesn't exist and Blaine just follows his lead. Tina continuously tells Blaine that it's for the best, that he knew that the arrangement wouldn't last forever. Blaine supposes she's right.

Still it doesn't change the fact that seeing Kurt around all the time sucks, especially now that Blaine's figured out he may have feelings for him.

"I just don't understand what her deal is; I mean Rachel's never done a thing to her"

Blaine's currently making his way to Chemistry with Tina, whose been complaining about Santana's strange behaviour that morning. Blaine's barely been listening, having seen Kurt as he was leaving his locker and being distracted by thinking about how unfair his life currently is.

"Blaine, are you even listening?" Tina's exasperated huff, punctuated with a sharp elbow jab to the ribs brings Blaine's attention to Tina who looks distinctly unimpressed.

"Sorry, I was distracted" Blaine apologises with a sheepish smile.

"I'll say" Tina mutters though she does smile, "Because of Kurt by any chance?"

Blaine doesn't answer but that in itself is an answer, at least to Tina. She raises a knowing eyebrow at Blaine and Blaine inwardly wishes his best friend wasn't so perceptive.

"You just need to stop thinking about it so much" Tina tells him, "Once you do that you won't notice him so much when he's around".

"Easier said than done" Blaine replies with a sigh.

"You can do it" Tina says, "Just give it time".

Blaine knows she's right but he can't help feeling that now that his feelings have changed it's going to be that much harder to forget about Kurt. He figures that Tina's probably sick and tired of hearing about Kurt, considering she's the person that Blaine's been complaining to about all of this, and so he decides not to drag out the issue and just agrees with Tina.

"Yeah, I guess you're right" Blaine replies.

Tina lets out a small satisfied noise at that.

"Of course I am" she responds, throwing a large grin in Blaine's direction.

"Of course you are" Blaine murmurs to himself as they enter the Chemistry lab.

* * *

Quinn isn't sure how much longer she can cope with her parents fighting. Over the weekend and the beginning of the week it seems like it's gotten ten times worse, as if fighting with each other is the only thing they know how to do now.

Curled up on the couch in the living room reading, Quinn can hear them fighting in the kitchen but she's trying her best to ignore it. If she listens closely she can probably work out what they're saying but she's too frightened that she'll hear her name being brought up so she doesn't.

She can barely concentrate on what she's reading and as the volume of her parents voices increases, Quinn retreats to her room but she doesn't plan on staying there for long. She picks up her phone and starts scrolling through her contacts until she lands on Blaine's name. It's not secret to Quinn, Tina, and Santana that Blaine has a strained relationship with his parents and Quinn figures that at least to some degree he'll understand what she's going through. She calls his number, hoping that he picks up.

Fortunately for her, he does.

"_Quinn?"_ he sounds a little surprised.

"Yeah it's me. You wouldn't happen to be busy right now?"

"_Uh, no...why?"_

"Could you come pick me up?"

"_Are you okay?"_ Quinn can hear the concern flooding his voice, replacing his earlier confusion.

"Yeah I'm fine" Quinn quickly reassures him, "I just really need someone to talk to right now".

"_Okay, I can be over at your house in like 20 minutes?"_

"Sounds perfect"

They hang up and Quinn lets out a long sigh before hunting down a jacket to wear when she's out with Blaine.

The 20 minutes it takes for Blaine to get to Quinn's house pass by quickly, something Quinn is immensely glad for. Her parents have quietened down for the moment but she knows it won't be long before they start up again. Her phone buzzes with a text from Blaine, informing her that he's currently parked at the end of her driveway. Quinn lets out a sigh of relief before she slips quietly out of her room and out of the house to meet him.

Blaine, ever the gentleman, gets out to open the passenger door for her as she slides into his car. She spares her house a small glance as Blaine makes his way back into the driver's seat of the car but once he's settled she looks away.

"Where do you want to go?" he asks gently.

Quinn shrugs because she doesn't know. She hadn't actually really thought about that.

"Anywhere"

Blaine just nods, starting the car and pulling out into the street. They drive around in silence for a while and Quinn relishes in it, finding comfort in it. They're just passing a small park a little way away from Quinn's house when Quinn speaks up.

"Can you pull over here?" she asks, gesturing to the car park beside the park.

Blaine's answer is to pull in to the car park, parking the car in one of the many empty parking spots. Finally, once the car's stopped, Blaine turns to Quinn.

"You said on the phone you needed someone to talk to?"

Quinn nods, wringing her hands nervously in her lap.

"It's my parents" she murmurs quietly.

Blaine makes a noise of sympathy and it makes Quinn glad that she did choose Blaine to talk to about this.

Blaine and Quinn weren't always friends. Quinn had been vaguely popular before the pregnancy debacle. She was still considered an outcast but she had a few friends higher up on the social food chain. She and Blaine had a few classes together in their sophomore year and sat next to each other in some of them. They'd found that they were actually quite similar and through that their friendship had grown and they'd grown closer. It was through Blaine that Quinn had become properly acquainted with Tina and become her friend and it was through Quinn that Blaine had properly met Santana (Quinn and Santana had already been friends since freshmen year) and those two had hit it off almost instantly. The same couldn't really be said for Santana and Tina but they mostly get on fine.

"Quinn?" Blaine's use of her name brings her back to the present as she realises that she's been zoned out.

"I'm fine" she says in response to Blaine's concerned gaze, "Just thinking".

He seems to accept her answer as the concerned look disappears slightly and is replaced with a smile.

"My parents" Quinn starts, drawing the conversation back to what she'd originally wanted to talk to Blaine about, "they've been fighting a lot lately".

She looks out the front windshield of the car, to the park beyond the glass, and draws in a deep breath.

"They never used to fight like this, not even after what happened last year, but now it's just non-stop like they've just decided to get out years of issues they've never dealt with".

Quinn looks to Blaine then and finds him watching her with a sad expression on his face. There's also a small note of understanding there which makes Quinn continue.

"It's just that I'm terrified that some of the issues have to do with me and I don't want to be the reason that my parents marriage falls apart".

She snaps her mouth shut after that last part because she hadn't even realised that she really felt that way. That understanding look on Blaine's face seems to grow and he reaches a hand across the console to hold one of Quinn's. She smiles down at it.

"Look, I know what it's like to feel like you're to blame when you're parents are constantly fighting but Quinn it's not your fault"

Despite his reassuring tone, Quinn doesn't actually feel all that reassured. She keeps her gaze fixed on their clasped hands, which are resting on the edge of her seat, and just doesn't say anything for a few moments.

"Even if that's true, I'll still have played a part" she sighs and rests her head back against her head rest.

Blaine squeezes her hand but doesn't reply because there's nothing he can say. Quinn knows that he knows she's right. Still it feels good to have at least talked about it to some degree with someone who understands.

"Parents suck" she groans and Blaine barks out a laugh.

"That they do, Quinn, that they do"

* * *

The rest of Tina's week leading up to Saturday passes relatively quickly and Tina's glad for it. Santana's been acting strange around her since the incident at Tina's locker with Rachel and no explanation has made itself known. Apparently it has ended their not-speaking which seems to please Quinn and Blaine. Still Tina can't figure out what had caused Santana to suddenly act like she was Tina's best friend.

The day of Rachel's party Tina wakes up early, her excitement at attending a proper party (albeit a small one) making it impossible for her to stay in bed any longer than 8:30. Her day only gets better when after she's showered and gone downstairs she finds that her mother has made French toast for breakfast. It's delicious and she lets her mother know.

The rest of the day gets spent texting back and forth with Blaine to find the perfect outfit and what hairstyle and makeup would compliment it. Tina knows that the party's not going to be too fancy and that everyone who'll be there already knows her but she can't help but feel like she has to impress them.

Her dad drives her to Rachel's house and before she gets out of the car, he tells her that he'll pick her up at 11:30 and that if she needs anything to just call. Tina says that she will before getting out of the car and making her way to Rachel's front door.

She rings the doorbell and as she waits for someone to answer the door she starts to feel a little nervous. Rachel had told her that she didn't have to bring anything except herself, which had made Tina laugh, but Tina had felt bad not bringing anything so as she'd been about to leave her house to come here, she'd snagged a jar of salsa dip from the kitchen cupboard. She figures there's got be chips here that'll benefit from it.

A minute after she's rung the doorbell and she's contemplating ringing it again, the door swings open to reveal Rachel standing there with a bright grin on her face.

"You're here!" Rachel exclaims, throwing her arms around Tina in a tight hug that surprises Tina so much that she almost drops her jar of dip.

When Rachel pulls away from the hug, Tina holds out the dip to her.

"I know you said not to bring anything but here" Tina says quietly as she waits for Rachel to take the dip.

Rachel takes the dip from Tina with a small 'thank you' before telling Tina to go downstairs to the party, pointing her in the direction of the basement, and then disappearing through another door.

Tina follows Rachel's instructions and makes her way down to Rachel's basement where she assumes the party is happening. When she gets down there she sees that Mercedes and Artie are already here. Artie gives her a wave from where he's sitting by a couch against one of the walls and Mercedes beams at her and comes over to give her a hug. At least Tina's prepared for this one.

"It's good to see you girl" Mercedes says as she pulls away from the hug.

"You too" Tina replies as she lets Mercedes lead her over to the couch next to Artie.

"Hey Tina" Artie says when Tina takes a seat on the couch.

"Hey Artie" Tina answers him, smiling gently at him.

"Oh good, you didn't get lost"

Tina's attention turns from Artie to Rachel, who has just appeared at the bottom of the basement steps with Finn in tow. Tina realises a little belatedly that Rachel was talking to her but it doesn't seem to matter as Rachel's already moved on.

"So what do you guys want to do?" she asks as she moves towards the stage at the front of the room, near the couch that Mercedes and Tina are sitting on.

Tina makes a mental note to ask Rachel about the stage.

Nobody really says anything, all looking between each other to see if anyone has any ideas.

"Well we could sing" Rachel suggests, "It is a glee club party after all".

Mercedes rolls her eyes but gets up from the couch and goes over to the stage.

"How about we sing something together?"

Rachel looks delighted with Mercedes' suggestion and grabs her hand to lead her over to what looks like a karaoke machine. Tina thinks she understands what the stage is for now.

"So, how's your weekend been so far?" Artie asks as Finn takes a seat beside Tina and Rachel and Mercedes start arguing over song choices.

"It's been good, my mom made French toast for breakfast so I can't complain" Tina replies, noticing how Finn perks up next to her at the mention of French toast.

"True that" Artie murmurs.

Finn looks like he's about to say something but just then music fills the room and Tina recognizes it as Take Me or Leave Me from RENT and Finn turns his attention to Rachel and Mercedes. Tina mentally applauds the song choice.

"What about you, how's your weekend so far?" Tina asks, turning her attention back to Artie.

"Not that interesting. I spent most of today just editing a short film I made a while ago" Artie replies as though he genuinely doesn't think it's that interesting.

Tina just looks at him in surprise for a minute before she speaks again.

"You make short films?" she asks, curiosity piqued.

Artie nods though he looks a little self-conscious.

"It's kinda my thing. I want to be a director someday"

Tina grins at that.

"That's awesome, Artie! I'm sure you'll be a great director"

Artie looks down at his hands in his lap for a moment before he looks up and smiles at Tina.

"Thanks Tina"

Tina pats his arm lightly before turning her attention to Rachel and Mercedes, who sound amazing together. They finish their song with a flourish, hugging each other tightly once it's done, laughing brightly, and they bow as Finn, Tina, and Artie applaud them. As they're clapping, Artie leans towards Tina, speaking quietly.

"I could show you one of my short films sometime if you want?"

Tina looks to Artie, feeling touched.

"I would love that" she replies just as quietly while Rachel and Mercedes leave the stage, demanding that someone else get up there and sing.

* * *

Tina had spent Sunday regaling Blaine with stories from the party at Rachel's on Saturday night and as Blaine makes his way to History on Monday, he feels glad that Tina seemed to have a good time and that the glee club are making her feel welcome.

"Watch where you're going!"

Blaine barely has any time to register who's yelling that and who it is addressed to before he's being shoved into a locker, causing him to drop his books onto the floor. Notes are spread across the hallway floor as Blaine winces while a pair of Lettermen-clad jocks, who Blaine can only guess are the culprits, high-five and laugh as they continue down the hallway.

Blaine sighs, shaking his head as he watches them go.

"I wasn't even in your way" he mutters to himself before something a little further down the hallway catches his attention.

Kurt's standing by his locker, watching Blaine with an expression that Blaine can't quite pinpoint. As soon as Kurt becomes aware that Blaine's looking at him, he looks down at his books and then turns away and walks off down the hallway.

Blaine bends down to pick up his things, resigning himself to the fact that he's going to be late to class and wishing for a moment that Kurt hadn't just turned and left him and what that expression on his face before he noticed Blaine looking was.

* * *

**So that's chapter five :) I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you soon with a new update that won't take practically a month to get written like this one did :P Thanks for reading and remember that feedback is always welcome.  
**


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